The great and small game of India, Burma, & Tibet . n is quite unlike that of any other bear. Onthe face and fore-part of the body white is the prevailing colour, althoughin places there are some black hairs, and these are more strongly developedabout the forehead, ears, and the fore-part of the nape of the neck. On thehinder portion of the nape is a pure white band, or collar, followed by a nearlyblack transversely elliptical patch above the shoulder-blades. Over the restof the body the hair is mingled black and white, so as to present a bluishtinge ; and the hind-legs are similarly coloured,
The great and small game of India, Burma, & Tibet . n is quite unlike that of any other bear. Onthe face and fore-part of the body white is the prevailing colour, althoughin places there are some black hairs, and these are more strongly developedabout the forehead, ears, and the fore-part of the nape of the neck. On thehinder portion of the nape is a pure white band, or collar, followed by a nearlyblack transversely elliptical patch above the shoulder-blades. Over the restof the body the hair is mingled black and white, so as to present a bluishtinge ; and the hind-legs are similarly coloured, although the lower halves 3 A 362 Great and Small Game of India, etc. of the fore-limbs are almost completely black. The claws, which are ofmoderate length, are white. In the autumn of 1897 the present writer had the opportunity, throughthe kindness of the Hon. A. E. Gathorne-Hardy, of seeing a second skin ofthis bear, which was obtained by Mr. Neil Malcolm in Tibet, and isdescribed in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for that year. This. Fig. 60.—Tibetan Blue Bear. From the Proceedings of the Zoological Society. specimen differs very considerably from the first one, showing much lesswhite on the back and shoulders, and having black (instead of nearly white)ears. It has a rufous band down the middle of the back, which is notobservable in the mounted example. In fact, the second skin seems to differas much from the first (if not more so) as does the Himalayan brown bearfrom its European relative. Probably these differences are only individual ;but additional specimens are urgently required in order to determine thispoint, and also to show whether this bear is rightly regarded as a species by The Blue Bear 363 itself, or whether it should be classed merely as a local race of the brownbear. And here it may be mentioned that there are considerable doubtswhether it ought properly to have the name Ursiis pniinosi/s, and if it shouldnot be known as U. /agomyarii/s—a name
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